Outside the Mainstream

When ratifying UN Covenant on Civil Rights in 1979, its representative reported, "The right of any person to enjoy his own culture... is ensured under Japanese law. However, minorities... do not exist in Japan." Nothing could have been further from the truth. Japan is - and has been - home to immigrants, indigenous populations forced to accept Japanese citizenship, outcast communities of Japanese ethnicity, and otherwise ordinary persons who live outside the mainstream as outlaws and prostitutes. This course examines how minority communities came into existence, struggled to maintain distinctive lifestyles in what many view as an extraordinarily homogenous society.